Magnus #1
Written by Kyle Higgins
Drawn by Jorge Fornes
Colored by Chris O’Halloran
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
Published by Dynamite

I’ve never actually followed the adventures of “Magnus: Robot Fighter.” He’s one of those pulp heroes that I’ve seen on the periphery. He falls into a category with characters like The Shadow and John Carter of Mars in that I know they’ve been around, and are in some ways foundational to pop culture, but I’ve never sought his adventures out. Perhaps it is because the premise, while awesome, seemed a bit too simple. He’s a dude that fights robots. It all feels very 1950’s to me; the square-jawed hero putting up his dukes and wits against a clanking menace while the terrified damsel looks on.
Higgins and Fornes new reimagining of the character is quite different, but it still has a veneer of classic science fiction about it. This version of the character is Dr. Kerri Magnus, robot psychologist. While the character so far seems to have more in common with Dr. Susan Calvin than the original pulp hero, the original creator, (name) was purported to have been largely inspired by Azimov’s “I, Robot” stories, so perhaps this reimagining is just bringing the concept full circle.
Fornes’s art is quite good, although there were a few spreads where I had some trouble following the panel sequence. His depictions of New York in the far-off year of 2020, and the ‘Cloudworld,’ it’s digital mirror, are intriguing, and O’Halloran’s colors create an absorbing SF-Noir feel for the book.
Magnus is a book with giving some fresh ink and perspective to some classic SF ideas, and I can’t wait to see where the series goes, although the first issue is a bit slim, it leaves some tasty breadcrumbs I’m looking forward to following. You can pick up Magnus #1 from your local comics shop, or digitally from Comixology.

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